Scattered Showers Over Margaret Town
by lindsaywho
Summary: After a devastating revelation in the guildhall Juvia leaves Magnolia to learn a thing or two about herself and how to handle an ice wizard... or two. Lyvia with Eventual Gruvia (and possible Gruvion. )
1. Prologue

Juvia walked towards Gray and Cana from across the guildhall. The two were engaged in a heated drinking match and Gray in his competitively drunken state had been less than delicate with Juvia's affections today.

"Look Juvia, it's nothing personal against you… I just don't see you in a sexual way" he stammered at her after his fourth beer and her second attempt that day to sit practically in his lap.

"Don't bother with this one Juvia *hic* We've been at it all afternoon and you'd be wasting your time to try to get his pickled penis to stand to attention when he's this sloshed." Cana piped in crudely.

Juvia took the card mage's bait: "and just what would you know about Gray-sama's penis?" the jealously possessive words were out of her mouth before she could really process their implications. Gray's face went pale.

"More than you Drippy!" Cana spat back before thinking better of it. At these words the guild collectively held their breaths, and not without reason. About a decade beforehand to most (3 years to the concerned parties) Cana and Gray had a thing, a dating thing. They had been 16 at the time but such logical trivialities mattered little to Juvia when Gray was concerned. Cana was feeling particularly vicious and twisted the knife in deeper. "It's been years now but after Mira made S Class after walking over my unconscious body, I made Gray a man after our failed partnership in the test. A consolation prize for behaving while we trained…"

Slow on the uptake but quick to grasp the weight of her words, Gray snapped, slapping the bar to emphasize his anger and get their attention. "ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU! CANA what happened was ancient history and even if it wasn't, JUVIA you need to STOP." He faltered then, seeing the tears brimming unshed in Juvia's shocked eyes; "please just stop."

Juvia turned on her heel and ran out of the guildhall. She locked herself in her room and was given space by her guild mates, although more from their own sense of self-preservation and fear than a desire to be actually helpful.

When a week had passed and Juvia had not been heard from or seen, Gajeel was ready to rip Gray limb from limb. After some convincing, the mages watched as Erza opened the door to Juvia's suite in Fairy hills.

The air was stale and her bed was made, no dishes in the kitchenette or laundry in the hamper. Juvia's room was too clean. Upon further inspection, her toiletries and toothbrush were nowhere to be found. The kitchen and her closet weren't bare, but the only thing in her fridge was a beautifully decorated strawberry cake and a note addressed to Erza, apologizing for leaving so suddenly but promising "another cake just like it upon Juvia's return from Margaret Town if you would keep Juvia's plants alive." Erza read it to the two concerned wizards. Gajeel seemed satisfied with the knowledge that Juvia meant to return but Gray's face went blank upon the revelation of her destination for her impromptu get-away… to the hometown of his elder "brother" Lyon Vastia.

_

Authors Note

After a decade's long hiatus I am attempting to start writing fanfic again! All mistakes are mine please no Juvia!haters in the reviews. While Gruvia is my FTOTP Lyvia has a special place in my heart as a plot that would not leave me alone!  
this is unbeta'd but I'm open to inquiries from interested parties.


	2. Chapter 1

Juvia made her decision to take off on her second day of self-imposed seclusion. After cleaning her apartment and baking to settle her nerves, she packed her bags and made for the late train. Despite the sureness behind her actions, her thoughts were in turmoil. _Why did I tell Erza I'd be in Margaret Town? The only people Juvia knows in Margaret Town are in Lamia Scale and even a dimwit like Natsu would be able to tell I'm going to visit Lyon, so of course Gray-sama would have figured out where I'm going!_ Juvia thought frantically; Her body was accustomed to moving on autopilot while Juvia's brain overworked itself – otherwise she'd never get out the door in the morning, let alone accomplish anything.

By the time she had snapped out of her fugue state, the conductor was announcing that their arrival in Margaret Town would take place in 20 minutes, at 6:30 in the morning. Juvia's eyes widened as the processed that she had missed a whole night's rest fretting over her circumstances only to find herself watching the sunrise begin from the window of the train.

An hour later, Juvia and her somewhat large bag had made their way from the sleepy-train station to a delicious smelling café downwind of the platform; her troubles momentarily forgotten in favor of her empty stomach's demands. Juvia was never one to gorge herself in depression and had not had an appetite since the incident with Cana and Gray days before. She was enjoying her first few bites of poached egg and grilled tomato on a croissant when a silky voice interrupted her gastronomic enjoyment.

"Juvia? Juvia Loxar?" she froze with her mouth full of a fresh bite of her breakfast. A moment later and Lyon Vastia was sliding from behind the counter-service till into the seat across from hers. "What brings you to Margaret Town? Finally given up on my glacial foster-brother?" he smirks jokingly, but hits too close to home.

Juvia shudders to hold back tears and deliberately chews her mouthful to get it down quickly. Hastily wiping her face with a napkin she doesn't meet Lyon's eyes to answer fast enough. "Juvia just needed a break Lyon-san. It's nothing to worry about" she smiled widely but it never met her eyes. "Would you like to join Juvia for breakfast?" she asked belatedly as the server from the café emerged from the kitchen with a plate of cut fruit, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, granola, and a large cup of iced coffee and placed it in front of him.

He thanked the waitress by name and turned back to the blunette across from him. "I suppose I will" he joked lightly, "Thank you. I come here every day after training in the summer." At her confused look, Lyon clarifies "It gets too hot to perfect and innovate new forms of ice-make magic during the day, so I train from midnight until dawn from May until October. The guild doesn't open for business until 9am but the cold-brew coffee here is far superior to the drip at Lamia Scale." They eat and exchange small talk but since they ordered and paid for their meals upfront, they were left undisturbed by the wait staff.

After awhile Lyon takes a long drink from his coffee and fixes her with his stare. "So, just what did Gray do this time?"

Juvia flushed but decided to be honest with Lyon since he seemed to see right through her. "…slept with Cana a decade ago…" she muttered guiltily, hearing how ridiculous it sounded out loud.

Lyon laughed at her. "You didn't even know Gray a decade ago." He points out.

"Juvia knows that! And it's not because Gray-sama had sex before knowing Juvia, Juvia's had boyfriends before; but Juvia is even angrier that everyone kept it from her! The WHOLE guild! Can you imagine how humiliating that is Lyon?" she asked him, her tears beginning to trickle down her angry cheeks.

"Actually Juvia, I can." She lifts her eyes to meet his questioningly, prompting him to continue: "Probably about as humiliating as being the old man on the wrong corner of a love triangle on display for the entertainment of the masses at the Grand Magic Games." He finished ruefully looking away.

Juvia grimaced. "Juvia is sorry you felt that way… but in a way that's what brought me here."

"To what purpose? To have me stroke your injured ego? I told you at the ball I wasn't going to compete for your affections anymore." He asked earnestly.

"Actually, Juvia came here precisely because you don't want me anymore, that means that makes you the perfect person to be my friend away from – "

Lyon clenched his fist and cut her off "I didn't say that to convince you to be my friend Juvia" he said carefully. Meeting her eyes again "I still want you, I'm just not willing to fight a losing battle; I'm not the hot-headed teenager you are in love with. I am a man Juvia and I can only bear so much!"

Juvia had never seen the ice mage like this, even in combat Lyon maintained his control and never bent to pressure; yet somehow without meaning to she had tied this man in knots. "Juvia is sorry… she can go somewhere else… Juvia never meant to hurt you Lyon-san." But before she can move to leave he stops her.

"I'm not trying to drive you away Juvia… and I didn't say I wouldn't be your friend either." He gives her a half-smile to try to reassure her. "As pathetic as it may sound I can't say with assurance that I'll ever get over you, but I can say that when you go back (and you will) Gray will hurt you and I will be waiting to pick you back up, you just have to ask. After-all what is the point in fighting for your attention when I can just wait?"

To say Juvia was surprised at this confession would be both an understatement and a lie. Inside her, guiltily, she wanted the ego-boost Lyon accused her of seeking and some deeply feminine part of her preened under his attention. Perhaps in the wake of Lyon's supposed compliance with her refusals, Gray and Cana's revelation was more of an upset because she didn't think anyone was really interested in her anymore. Juvia had never been good at valuing herself and needed other people's praise to function with confidence. Lyon spoke of his intentions with conviction and it shook Juvia to her core. "But why?" she asked incredulously, looking at her folded hands in her lap.

Lyon reached across the table and moved to brush her cheek with his thumb, but thought better of making the skittish blunette even more nervous; His fingers moved to settle on her shoulder, prompting her to meet his gaze. "Because I waited 28 years to meet someone who made me feel even a fraction of the passion I feel for you." Juvia flushed from the intimately charged contact. "I won't pretend to have never loved someone before but I can honestly say that I have never known a more powerful, sexy, loyal, and thoughtful mage than you." She takes his hand in hers and gingerly removes it from her shoulder.

Juvia smiled sheepishly "Lyon is the only one who thinks so…"

He smirked "I wouldn't be if other men saw the raw untapped sexuality brimming under your carefully composed surface; Still waters run deep after all." Lyon's fingers brimmed with icy magical energy; sending literal chills through Juvia's body at the touch of his hand on hers. "I've always wondered how my ice-make magic would affect a water body…" he trails off, lost in the addicting sensation of her pulse quickening under his touch.

Juvia maintained a tight hold on her composure, melting the crystalizing sensations he was pressing into her skin on contact. Behind her eyes her mind was spinning with the implications of his words, steamy conclusions briefly loosing a thread of steam from their joined hands before she pulls away from Lyon, her face flush.

"Just what are you proposing" Juvia pauses, considering her words "Lyon-sama?"

Her words hit him like a shot of adrenaline to the heart and for a moment he can't breathe. Juvia's eyes were unfathomably blue as they searched the spot on the table where they had been touching as she avoided his intense gaze. Heart pounding in his ears, Lyon recognized what she needed from him and what she was too afraid to ask him:

Juvia wanted to be wanted by someone willing to want her back, and knew Lyon could be that for her. What Juvia needed was to be loved, and didn't believe herself capable of loving anyone other than Gray Fullbuster; But Juvia would never come out and asks Lyon directly, afraid of being unfair to him, all she could do was offer herself in truncated form through use of that honorific.

Decision made (reason and self-preservation be-damned) Lyon got up with a sigh and moved to her side of the booth lowering his voice to speak gently. "What if I told you I know how to make Gray want you?" he asked conspiratonally.

Juvia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "And how do you suggest Juvia do that?" but when her eyes met his her chest felt tight and she froze to her seat

Without hesitation Lyon leaned in and spoke so only she could hear him "Let me show you…" he left his sentence unfinished but the sentiment hung in the air between his lips and her ear.

"Lyon-sama…" Juvia starts but is cut off by the brush of his lips.


End file.
